She said: “I downloaded it and immediately realised there is money to be made.

“If you can get to a decent level you can sell it on to people on Ebay.

“I heard accounts were being sold and I looked on eBay and some accounts at level 20 and above were going for a £1,000 and level 15 bids were about £100-£200.

“If you put the time in you can get to level 15 after a day or two.

“I plan to buy more phones and play multiple games at one time.

“Some days I play it for 18 hours a day because you can play all the time even when you’re out with your friends in bars and clubs.

“My mum thinks I’m mad but she’s coming round to the idea.

“I’m going to do it for as long as it makes money.

“It’s a big craze at the moment and there’s money to be made but if it slows down I can always go back to teaching.”

Gamers buying and selling accounts risk having them suspended for breaking developer Niantic’s terms of service which state they can’t be sold to third parties for commercial gain.

But that hasn’t put people off.

One student recently sold his account for £1,144 saying: “What you’re purchasing is my account, which I have put my time and effort into, which makes this a whole lot easier for you! … I’m just a broke college student in debt, and every penny helps.